As you may have noticed, I've been almost completely missing from BYOND over the past year. Given that my membership will expire soon (don't worry, I've still got plenty of BYONDimes credit in my account if I ever want to renew) I thought I'd drop back in and tell y'all what I've been doing instead.

Also, there's a big announcement at the end of this post...

Mostly I've been at university. I've got one year to go of my four-year degree, having just finished my third year.

When I haven't been doing that, though, I've been continuing work on Mayhem Intergalactic, formerly known as YAGSACG (see left sidebar). Check it out if you haven't already; and if you did check it out a while back, I encourage you to take another look, because it's been significantly improved from the early versions. It looks better, sounds better, and feels better.

It's also won me a few awards. In February I went to the 2008 Game Developers Conference, due to winning an Independent Games Festival Student Showcase award. Last month I went to Melbourne and scored not one but two ATOM Awards, each of which came with a shiny shiny trophy and some awesome loot - including a drawing tablet and a commercial 3D package which normally costs $3,000 USD. (XSI 7 Essentials, in case you're wondering. Haven't installed it yet, I've been too busy.)

The big announcement

After sitting on this piece of news for months, I can now reveal that Mayhem Intergalactic will soon be coming to Steam, Valve's flagship digital distribution system. This is very exciting, since the one thing Mayhem Intergalactic has really been lacking is widespread exposure and distribution, and that's something that Steam can grant in spades.

Also, I might actually earn some money from it for a change. Which would be nice. :-)

I'm really glad to hear it will be on Steam. You will make a bunch of money on first release, and then a slow trickle there after. To help support you, I plan on buying a copy on Steam, despite already buying a copy when it was first released.

I'll also send out an announcement on the BYOND Steam group, so hopefully we can get most BYONDers on Steam to buy it.

@Airjoe: Grrr... yet another sale the SoftCartPro guy didn't tell me about. Pity I'll never see any of that money!

Should be fixed now. Sorry for the inconvenience. If anyone else runs into that problem, forward me your receipt and I'll fix it up.

@Danial: Yeah, I'm aware it'll tail off. Always does! We'll see how it goes over the long term. Excellent idea about the BYONDers Steam group, that'd be great.

@Tib: Reports of my living-in-Sydney-ness have been greatly exaggerated. =P I've lived in Canberra all my life. (Don't believe the lies; I've never seen a federal politician in person. They hide when it's light out.)

@Elation: Yes sir, right away sir.

@Kunark: Hehe, be my guest. Make sure you plug the game when you do that... ;-)

I don't think I'll be making a trip to the ACT anytime soon. My ex-ex-girlfriend lives there, and I try to remain two states away from her at all times. Maybe next time you're in Melbourne. We can convince Dark View to come out for a cuppa.

If you really want to support me and my games, the best way you can help is to spread the word. Not just about the Steam version, but also the direct sales version (of which I get a bigger cut). Whether you make a forum post or talk about it in a chat room or mention the game to friends or whatever, every little bit counts.